"We had a chat in the back of that car, and over the next month took a number of very clear decisions," he says.

BMW says its new models are key to its current success

'We protected our cash'

One key move was slashing production over the next three months to reduce the stockpile of cars.

Ian Robertson

Born: Oswestry Shropshire, 5 June 1958

Education: University of Wales, Cardiff. BA Science Maritime studies

1979: joins Rover Group as graduate trainee

1988-99: various managerial jobs at Rover and Land Rover

1999-2005: Managing director, BMW South Africa

2005-2008: Chairman and chief executive, Rolls-Royce

2008- Sales and marketing director and member of the board of management

Married with two grown-up children

Lives just outside Munich

"We didn't know just how bad the industry's recession was going to be, but we ended 2008 with a clear inventory - unlike most of our competitors who had tons of inventory going forward and didn't react.

"We protected our cash balance," he says.

"In 2009 we were able to focus on lots of new products, while a lot of companies were just thinking, how do we survive?"

Last year BMW, and its UK brands Mini and Rolls-Royce, all saw record sales.

That is not bad considering that the global economy is only just in recovery mode, and given that car sales in Europe were the worst since 1995, according to the industry trade body ACEA.

BMW's Europe sales dipped just 0.7%.

Mr Robertson says there will be disappointment if sales records are not broken again this year, although he warns that the industry should be prepared for huge volatility in emerging markets.

"One thing that we were very clear about during the difficult years - and it will be the case this year and beyond - was that we were going to continue our model offensive."

BMW's Mini is just one of its new models on show at Geneva

Changing face of retail

The fruits of this offensive have been on display here at Europe's premier car show, and include the unveiling of the first front-wheel BMW, the new BMW 4 series Gran Coupe, a new Mini and the Rolls-Royce Ghost series II.

Car manufacturing in the UK is approaching levels which have not been seen since the 1960sIan Robertson, BMW

The company is also showcasing its electric technology with the award-winning i3 city car and the i8 sports car.

Using new battery technology and lighter composites BMW is positioning itself for when electric vehicles go mainstream - as Ian Robertson believes they will, once more charging infrastructure is built.

BMW's emergence from the recession as a stronger outfit is in no small measure due to a pretty slick marketing operation, which has also seen huge investment.

"The whole future of retail is probably going to change in the next five years faster than it has done in the last 100 years, because our expectations are all different.

"Probably 80%-85% of our customers do all their research in the digital world before they come through the showroom doors.

"We have redesigned our digital platform but as a consequence the whole environment in the dealer process has to change too.

"We are redesigning the whole process of how a car is acquired," he says.